The brewery says the popularity of the special rugby ale is having an effect on sales of traditional Irish stout brands with some licensees reporting a switch of more than six per cent from Guinness when Pitch Black is available on the bar.

Erika Hardy, brands manager for Everards, said: “Pitch Black is fast becoming the main choice for drinkers of stout ale and the fact that the RRP is 15p cheaper than most Irish stouts is making it extremely popular.

“It was originally launched for the 2006 Six Nations and was reintroduced for the autumn internationals and returned in January 2007 for this year’s championships.

“Year on year the brand has grown from 37 to 72 stockists within the Everards tenanted estate which has resulted in a volume increase of 68 per cent.

“We’ve recently issued a customer feedback kit which has again evoked a huge and positive response from customers who are demanding it from the licensees.”

Everards says Pitch Black will be returning in Autumn 2007 for the rugby world cup tournament.

Pitch Black is described by the company as delivering what would be expected from a stout with its dark appearance, aroma of roasted coffee and dry, bitter, yet velvet smooth taste.

Pump clips and beer mats for Pitch Black feature the Cyclops tasting guide which has been developed by Everards to make tasting notes easier to use for the customer and bar staff alike.

The guide contains an easy to follow symbol chart illustrating the type or style of ale and includes categories such as premium ale, bitter, best bitter, ale, stout and blonde. Also featured is a colour, smell and taste guide as well as a bitter / sweet rating on a scale of one to five.

Everards Brewery has a pub estate of 162 houses around the Midlands, all of which are run under the Everards banner as individual businesses by the licensees. The pubs vary widely from city centre venues to traditional village pubs.

Highgate managing director Bob Norton said: “We believe this is the start of something big, as we push more into the off-sales market.

“We already have a number of popular bottled beers, such as Davenports and England’s Glory, and we will be looking to expand that range – possibly putting Highgate into bottles.

“Bottled Davenports has always been popular locally – many people remember the old TV ads and the song from the 1960s and the slogan ‘Beer At Home Means Davenports’. It is already available in many local Threshers.
“With the growth in popularity of people drinking at home we are now looking to break into the supermarkets in a much bigger way.

“This was all really sparked by entering Old Ember, one of our dark beers, in a Tesco’s national challenge.

“It won the winter ale award and Tesco took the beer into a number of selected stores.

“They sold 100,000 bottles of Old Ember in a year and, although the deal was supposed to just run for 12 months, they have decided to keep it on their shelves.

“It has been like winning the lottery for a firm like us,” said Mr Norton.

Now the brewery has scored a new distribution agreement with Thresher, brokered through the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Direct Delivery Scheme (DDS). Thresher will roll out up to four beers per store across 1,800 outlets nationwide, delivered directly by breweries within 30 to 40 miles of each outlet from among DDS’s 260 brewers.

To support the roll-out SIBA will provide a leaflet unique to each store to promote the launch and offer tasting notes on each store’s individual beer range.

The Highgate team will now be visiting all the Thresher stores in the region offering them their choice of the Walsall firm’s bottled beers.

Roger Whiteside, chief executive at Thresher, already says he wants the number of local beers within each store to grow beyond the initial four.

“There is huge demand for local products”, he added.

“DDS unlocks the opportunity to satisfy that consumer demand and gives Thresher a further point of differentiation within the off-licence trade. Offering quality ales from local brewers such as Highgate with a passion and enthusiasm for beer is a far more interesting proposition than the supermarkets’ use of price-led lager deals.”

Mr Norton said turnover was now around £5.5 million a year but, with more off-licence sales and more use of its 1,200 barrels a week production capability, he predicted substantial growth over the next few years.

“Our first ventures into the off-licence trade have been very successful – we also have Asda selling England’s Glory – and we see this as a major area of growth for the company.”

Taken from: http://www.expressandstar.co.uk

Everards is set to celebrate the start of spring with the launch of its new seasonal cask conditioned ale, Sly Fox.

Available from 1 April 2007, the premium ale (ABV 4 per cent) is described by the company as light and refreshing with a cunning hint of ginger. The name reflects the company’s close link with the Leicestershire Foxes Cricket Club and celebrates the team’s Twenty20 cup success. The pump clip design has also adopted the club’s fox logo.

Everards’ brands manager, Erika Hardy, said: “Sly Fox is our first ginger ale and we are delighted to add more variety to the range of cask ales available to the consumer.

“As well as appealing to regular cask ale customers with its quality ingredients and light gold appearance, we hope this latest innovation will attract new drinkers and help drive the sector forward. Strong bitter taste often acts as a barrier for new drinkers to real ale so the zesty, ginger flavours of Sly Fox make it an ideal introductory product.

“We are also pleased to acknowledge our ongoing support of Leicestershire County Cricket Club. In addition to the aptly named Sly Fox, we continue to be an official sponsor of the club and will host a beer festival during Twenty20 matches at the ground in July 2007, where Sly Fox will of course be one of the ales available.”

As with all Everards cask ale brands, Cyclops tasting notes for Sly Fox have been developed by the company. These enable licensees, bar staff and consumers to learn more about the beer and compare it to others in the range with straightforward descriptions of the product’s style, appearance, smell and taste.

In addition to seasonal ales, the brewery also produces popular ales to commemorate special events and sporting occasions, such as Pitch Black – originally launched for the 2006 Six Nations rugby championship and brought back for the 2007 event and Rugby World Cup.

Everards Brewery has a pub estate of 161 houses around the Midlands, all of which are run under the Everards banner as individual businesses by the licensees. The pubs vary widely from city centre venues to traditional village pubs.

Click here for Cyclops tasting notes

Janet Sheppard, HR manager for Everards, said: “We’re always looking for talented people who might be interested in running their own business in one of our pubs and as the bounty scheme has worked so well within the Everards organisation, we are now giving the general public the chance to get involved.

“Previous experience of the pub and licensed trade is beneficial, but not always necessary, as we have a comprehensive training and support programme.

“Any member of the public who knows someone, such as a relative or friend, who they think would make a great pub landlord should first of all obtain their permission to put their name forward. Once they have this, they should then pass details on to the recruitment team at Everards and we’ll take it from there, it’s as easy as that.”

Everards Brewery has a pub estate of 161 houses around the Midlands, all of which are run under the Everards banner as individual businesses by the licensees. The pubs vary widely from city centre venues to traditional village pubs.

Those interested in the Everards bounty scheme should contact the Recruitment Team at Everards Brewery on 0800 0564111.